Erin’s Top Ten Biggest Mistakes Escorts are Making in 2009

What is your biggest frustration when it comes to escorting? What is the one thing you’d like to, once and for all, figure out?

There are a few common mistakes I see escorts making with their online marketing. The saddest part is, most will never realize they are even making them. I compiled these mistakes into an ordered list of ten.




#10: Unclear on the purpose of your website.

As an entertainer, what would you say is your number one goal you hope to accomplish with your website? Getting clear on this is invaluable to its success. What you are hoping your “return” to be should drive the decisions you make about your design.

Maybe you want to:

• Attract and Attain a Higher Caliber of Clientele
• Avoid Time-Wasters and Abusive Clients
• Book More Calls
• Book Fewer Calls, But More Multi-Hour Sessions
• Raise Your Rates By Branding Yourself as a VIP
• Have One Central Place for Your Most Current Info
• Spend Less Time Screening
• Stay Safe and Secure
• Start a Member’s Site or Have a Shopping Cart

The most important first step you can take when considering your own website is figuring out your most pending goal, and then decide on secondary goals. Without listing your goals and what you hope to accomplish, you are basically building a site with a blindfold on.

Without clarifying your goals, it’s quite possible you will end up hiring the wrong person to build your site for you, if you aren’t planning on building it yourself.

What would you do if tomorrow every advertisement you had online was taken down? What if the directories that bring you the most traffic were suddenly forced to go out of business?

Could you sustain your business with only your personal Rolodex or would you be in trouble? How long could the reliance of this float you before the well ran dry?

Acquiring your own personal database of thousands of clients and potential clients isn’t nearly as daunting as it sounds. With the right game plan you could realistically build a database like this within one month’s time.

The solution is to grow your own email list.

With an email list, or mailing list as they are most commonly referred to, you have the power to reach out to numerous potentials in one email.

Please don’t misread this. I’m not suggesting unsolicited mass emails here. Mass spamming is ineffective and actually hurts your business.

I’m talking about super effective emails sent out to targeted gentlemen that voluntarily signed up to be a part of your mailings and genuinely enjoy hearing from you.

I’m also referring to good, personally written newsletter campaigns that appeal to what these types of readers want to hear about.

The secondary benefits of having your own mailing list are endless. I’ll give you a few though… creating quick rapport with potentials, branding yourself as an affluent luxury, weeding out time-wasters, attaining more regulars, etc.

Good testimonials have been shown to improve sales conversions across the board for all businesses.

In our industry they are more often referred to as your “reviews” and they perform the same exact duty. They aide to establish credibility, and ease uncertainty or mistrust.

This is especially true for those of us relying on the internet to promote our services. In a buying scenario where a client cannot actually tangibly hold in his hands what is being sold, such as a book in a bookstore, he will be relying on outside encouragement from peers to make his final decision.

What other people say about you and your services will help to build an impression in the minds of all of your prospective clients. Affluent buyers, in particular, are quite interested in hearing feedback from previous purchasers.

You can assure the visitor of your ad or website that your service is of the highest value, but without proof they will remain skeptical.

They are much more inclined to believe what other people have to say about your services. This type of reliance on feedback is extremely common across countless forms of human interaction. It’s referred to as “social proof” and you can use it to encourage your potential clients to choose you.

Gathering up your very best reviews should be a step you are bringing in at the ground floor of development when you are building your website or putting up a new directory ad.

I’ve heard in a few circles that some entertainers feel as though professional photo shoots give an ingenuous feel to the presentation. Suggesting that when you use anything other than “raw” photography, you are misleading the client.

The raw style might be working well for American Apparel, but that’s not really your target market.

You don’t see BMW using anything less than the most exquisite photography to showcase their series of luxury cars. Anytime you notice a luxury product being presented you will also notice the photographers they hire are the best in the field.

These companies have spent lifetimes studying and understanding the specifics of how to appeal to affluent buyers. They know that the affluent market demands a higher quality of presentation.

If, as an entertainer, you are not willing to move past the myth purporting professional photography reflects ingenuous presentation, then you will only continue to push the wealthy away.

It should go without saying you will want to avoid massive retouching options such as body sculpting or extreme airbrushing of your skin. If you look dramatically different in person than you do in your ad photos, this can cause an array of negative possibilities when you show up for your appointments.

Using a professional photographer should not equate to “fake-looking” photos. Reputable photographers will produce pieces for you to use that require little to no retouching at all. A good photographer knows not to over-process your images.

Using professional photos in your advertising materials will not only help you to attract upscale clientele, but they will also help you to repel budget buyers.

Just as important to the overall presentation as your photography, good copywriting is essential to compelling your visitors to contact you for an appointment.

That is because writing has the power to steer people’s decisions in one direction or another. It can even manipulate people to do things they had not planned to do prior to reading the copy.

Copy can also be the sole reason someone decides to leave your site or ad. When written poorly, it can yield the opposite result of what you want.

If you want to avoid using bad copy, brush up on your skills prior to putting up your site. Read up on good copywriting techniques and complete some exercises to give your writing an edge.

Or consider using part of your marketing budget to find an experienced professional. Give as much consideration to your copy writer as you would your website designer.

Outside of your website and directory ads, poorly written emails also make it considerably more likely the potential will not open a second message from you. It should go without saying that every line of communication should feature correct spelling, proper grammar, and complete sentences.

Great copy is undeniably one of the best ways to help get a reader to follow-through and contact you for an appointment. It’s also a great way to get a better ranking in search engines. Through organic SEO, search engines will bookmark your site for certain words and phrases you use in your well-written text.

This often overlooked part of your marketing has benefits o’plenty!

The number one questions I get in my inbox is “Erin, where can I find a good support group of like-minded entertainers?” I find it unusual that so many are still out there completely unconnected.

Fortunately, not all entertainers have stayed so disconnected and some have formed different online havens for you to visit. In addition to the many numerous escorting forums you will come across, there are also social networking mediums that can instantly connect you.

One of which is twitter.

Connecting with your community will link you to like-minded professionals, escort photographers, lawyers, new directories, and other industry professionals. After you spend some time forming online friendships, you’ll become walking-talking advertisements for one another.

The entertainers I see chatting back and forth on twitter are actually giving each other free advertising every time they mention each other’s name. This public conversation is seen by all who follow them. It also adds an extra bonus of immediate social proof.

All of this happens simply by interacting. Pretty neat.

In addition to the forums and the social media outlets, you can also increase your networking by reaching out through email. Contacting someone directly through email is a more personal way to connect.

A highly rewarding way to network is to introduce people to one another.

When you help to unite two greatly-matched people to one another, they will often think of you, when they think of each other. You introduced them. The power in this is unbelievable.

Last point to mention is when you outsource your link exchanging tasks to your webmaster; you miss out on a really great networking opportunity.

Instead of having someone issue out a generic email requesting a reciprocal link-back, try writing the person yourself. Make your email personal and warm. Try to find out more about them, and exchange a few emails before asking for the link request.

Use as many methods as you want and spread out amongst as many groups and cliques as you like. This is about networking, so the more the merrier.

There is no exact formula that can apply to all indy escorts, in every city, in every country, regarding how to structure your rates. There are many factors that come into play when deciding this.

With saying that, however, there are four main considerations you should consider regarding your rates.

• Research your competition in your primary city. Keep yourself in the top bracket, always.
• If you are a traveling companion, consider removing your rates from your website. Only display them on your directory ads.
• Half hour rates have their pros and cons. It is best to not publicly advertise them and save the option for regulars and referrals only.
• Use the Rate Decoy to structure your rates. This method uses selecting what you would charge for an extended session first, and then working down from there.

If you currently use an adjective as your first name as in “Hot Haley” or “Sexy Selena”, consider a name make-over.

These types of phrasings are sometimes OK when used as descriptions in sentences about yourself, but when it comes to the name your clients will refer to as, make it a proper first and last.

Instead of “Hot Haley”, try Haley Holidae.

Instead of “Sexy Selena”, try Selma Selena.

Can you hear and feel the difference in the two? One sounds like the next “performer” being called onstage. The other sounds like a real woman you could spend an evening with.

A realistic first and last name is the best route to go.

The temptation to compare ourselves to others comes with good reason. We humans want to know where we stand in society’s “hierarchy” and comparing ourselves to other people gives us the much needed data to know where our place is.

Our whole lives we have interfaced with these social dynamics, from kindergarten up until now. Unspoken “rules” are in place that our culture has agreed upon, to decide who is at the top, and who is at the bottom.

The unfortunate part is that when we are always comparing ourselves to other people, we will inevitably always find someone new, who is above us.

And this type of vicious cycle is designed to kill our self-esteem.

The other sad fact is that when we are only pushing to outrank someone else, we totally miss the mark on our true potential.

Instead of turning to other entertainers to weigh in on your social ranking, why not try comparing yourself to… yourself.

Try, for instance, instead of comparing your website to another VIP lady in your city, compare your website today to what it looked like three years ago.

Instead of comparing what your ad text reads like in comparison to a fellow entertainer, compare your ad text to what it read like last year.

Recognize yourself for all the progress you are making in your career.

The desire to compare ourselves to another person will only result in us feeling we are lacking in some way or another. When we take the time to explore our previous selves and compare them to our current self, we can finally see the real data that will support good self-esteem and self-love.

You might be surprised to know that the majority of traffic looking for you and your services online are affluent gentlemen between the ages of 35 and 49. This is fact.

Males, aged 35 to 49, with an annual income of or above $100,000, make up the highest percentage of visitors to the top Escort Directories.

This is true across the board…

If you are advertising on Eros Guide, Lovings, CityVibe, Open Adult Directory, BackPage.com, The Erotic Review, myHoneyGirls, Escorts.com, or Craigslist, then the majority of the traffic being exposed to your ad is wealthy affluent men.

So, what the means is, when you negate the opportunity to advertise yourself as a VIP to the affluent, you are actually repelling the majority of men even looking for you.

It’s true.

Affluent men like the finer things in life. So, if you are branding yourself as anything below the upper crust, the affluent gentleman will generally pass you over, and keep looking for something more suited to his refined tastes.

Affluent clients love a deal, but they aren’t looking for a bargain. Do you understand the difference here?

While a wealthy gentleman is delighted to get a free limited edition designer helmet worth $1500 with the purchase of his brand-spanking new BMX motorcycle, he’s not interested in the used Honda selling for thousands cheaper, down the block.

Even if he likes a deal just like the average guy, the affluent buyer still wants the best. They want “the best” and they wouldn’t mind a deal, but they aren’t interested in the “average”.

Brand yourself as an affluent luxury and watch money flow to you.

- Erin Ann Myer